Climate: China will stop building coal plants abroad – franceinfo

This is a “historic turning point to move away from the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel”, responded Helen Mountford of the World Resources Institute. This organization recalls that on “the last decade”, China has invested “billions of dollars” in coal factories in other countries. This is for example the case in Indonesia, Vietnam or Bangladesh.

“While the phasing out of coal financing abroad is very important, this does not exempt China from taking ambitious measures within its borders,” Helen Mountford recalled, however. Because Tuesday’s announcement is far from signifying the complete end of Beijing’s investments in coal.

During a visit to China in early September, the US climate envoy, John Kerry, asked Chinese officials to stop these constructions, including in their country, “so as not to ruin the world’s ability to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050”.

“The days of coal energy are numbered”, The president of COP26, British politician Alok Sharma, reacted on Twitter on Tuesday, saying he welcomed the Chinese announcement. “At COP26, we need to make coal from ancient history.”